Chapter Three – Off World Adventure
Arriving on Dallen, they were met by the Yah-Dallin leader, Governor Ayomide of Ife-Monifa, a man in his late fifties and wearing the blue clothing symbolic of his place in society, and with a teenager standing beside him, dressed in the yellow clothing of a leadership apprentice.
"Greetings! Welcome once more to Dallen, trusted friends. We are highly honoured to greet with the Lieutenant Colonel of Atlantis and the Leader of the Athosians to begin negotiations. And you have brought the esteemed Doctor of Astrophysics and the Specialist of Sateda as well I see. Good, good, this is all most excellent!"
Sheppard had never been a fan of the overly effusive and officious manner of the Yah-Dallins, but he smiled tightly and pleasantly at the Governor nonetheless, noticing with some pleasure the slightly strained if diplomatic expression on Teyla's face; he wasn't the only one who found these people… tiresome.
"We are pleased to return, Governor of the Yah-Dallins, and hope to trade fairly as before," Teyla said smoothly. "You have asked for help with your power relay?"
"Please tell me that the Doctor of Astrophysics will be willing to look into the problem., and of course, we will make it part of the trade agreement, if he is willing?"
"McKay will be happy to look at it for you," Sheppard said, ignoring the slight huff from behind him. Fortunately, McKay knew better than to alienate such long standing allies with his less than enthusiastic comments and complaints. Well, this time, anyway.
"Oh, that is such good news! Please, if it is not too much, Kayin of Adisa-Dayo will show the Doctor of Astrophysics to the power relay station on the hillside now, to assess if he can repair it or not?"
"Of course I'll be able to repair it," Rodney protested grumpily.
"Excellent! Then we can trade with that in mind, while you are repairing it?"
"Fine, the sooner I get it finished…"
"McKay," Sheppard said in warning, giving him a pointed look. "Play nicely."
"Humph. Whatever."
"Ronon will go with you…"
"Oh really, I don't need a babysitter, I'll only be up that hill, what, a mile away at most," Rodney protested, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked towards the hillside Governor Ayomide had pointed to.
"It takes twenty clicks to reach the relay from here," the Governor said.
"If I remember rightly, isn't one of their clicks about two of our minutes?" John asked lightly.
"Yeah," Rodney said morosely, realising he was looking at a forty minute uphill hike, instead of the ten or so minutes he'd estimated. "Just great."
"Well, the sooner you go, and all that," Sheppard said with a grin.
"Fine. Erm, you there," Rodney gestured to the teen. "Lead the way, then."
Kayin set off towards the hill with McKay following behind and muttering about the poor decision not to bring a jumper, and why was it that everything had to be uphill and farther away than it looked in the first place, anyway? Sheppard indicated to Ronon to go with them, who did so with a grimace, not looking forward to the whining he was about to endure.
Sheppard felt like grimacing himself, much preferring to deal with an unhappy McKay than the over-happy Yah-Dallins, but instead he steeled himself to follow Teyla and Governor Ayomide back to the Town Hall to begin negotiations.
The joys of being a team leader knew no end, he thought to himself somewhat sourly.
Blair stood just inside the doorway as he watched Jim, who was holding the Ziploc bag with the two blond hairs inside it between his fingers, turning it over and over again.
"Hair doesn't come with a name written on it, you know, Jim."
Jim looked up at the voice, before nodding with a frown on his face.
"I know. I wish it was possible to get a DNA result from it, but…
"Yeah, it doesn't work like that in real life," Blair said with a sigh.
"No."
"Have you tried smelling it? With it being sealed in a bag, it should keep the smell in and possibly amplify it."
Carefully holding the bag up to his nose, Jim breathed in deeply. And started coughing.
Worriedly, Blair crossed the room quickly, but halted when Jim held up a hand to stop his advance.
"I'm fine, Sandburg. Just didn't expect the smell to be so strong."
"Well, did you recognise it? Is it floral or more of a man's shampoo?"
"It's hairspray, and definitely a female one by the smell of it." Jim coughed again. "Let's go get a drink. I can still taste it at the back of my throat."
"Sure. And we'd better let Elizabeth know we're looking for a woman while we're at it."
The teenager left Ronon and Rodney alone once they reached the power relay station, which McKay immediately started dismantling, with much muttering about the incompetence of the locals and just who had thought that doing it that way was a good idea in the first place…
Ronon tuned out the complaining and stood guard at the entrance, alert for any danger. Over forty minutes passed and he was just contemplating whether he was better off here, bored and babysitting an unhappy McKay, or whether he would have been better off in the town, trying not to strangle these extremely irritating people, when the physicist gave a sigh and activated his radio.
"Sheppard, do you have a camera on you? Mine's not working."
Ronon activated his own radio so he could hear both sides of the conversation.
"McKay, we're busy here…"
"And I need to take some photos of this poor excuse for technology, so that we can replicate a part back on Atlantis that has partially melted due to the ignorant locals overloading the system…."
"McKay!" The tone was sharp and shut the physicist up. "No, I don't have a camera." There was a moment's silence before Sheppard came back on. "Neither does Teyla."
"Great, just great!" McKay moaned. "Well, I'm not walking all the way to the gate just to get one… and this worthless junk isn't going to come out in one piece, so I need to photograph it… Ronon can go instead while I take some measurements… eat a PowerBar…"
"He's not your personal servant, you know."
"I'll go," Ronon interrupted, glad to be doing something, to be moving; he really hated being inactive for too long.
"See, he doesn't mind."
"I don't like the idea of you two splitting up…"
"Oh come on, what could possibly happen? The Yah-Dallins have been allies for years; nothing bad ever happens. I'll be fine."
There was silence for another few moments.
"Okay, fine, Ronon will go and get you a camera. Make sure you stay put and stay in contact."
"Yes, yes, I know the drill. McKay out."
Ronon smiled at the muttered curse he heard over the airwaves before Sheppard switched his radio off.
"So, what are doing still here?" McKay snapped.
Ronon glared at him, but turned and left, jogging down the hill to the gate and cutting the journey time down to less than thirty minutes, enjoying the freedom of movement.
Rodney finished taking the necessary measurements for the replacement part, as well as some notes on how to improve the relay station's efficiency and so hopefully avoid the problem recurring, and now absentmindedly grabbed a PowerBar from his pack and turned his attention to his PC screen, pulling up a project he'd been working on back in Atlantis.
He took a bite, chewing and swallowing it quickly and was about to take another when the sour taste registered with him and he paused in shock and horror.
Throwing the PowerBar down, he dug out the epi-pens from his tac vest, but he could already feel his breathing worsening. Damn, it hadn't been this bad the last time he'd suffered a reaction, which meant there must have been an unusually high amount of it in the bar.
"Sheppard," he gasped over the radio, fumbling with the first of the epi-pens.
"McKay, everything okay?"
"No," he wheezed. "Allergy…"
Finally, he managed to inject the epinephrine into his thigh, before collapsing to the floor, still gasping like a fish out of water.
"Use your epi-pen," came Sheppard's order. "I'm coming up there."
"Have… used… one. Not having… much effect… yet."
"Ronon, are you at the gate yet?" He heard Sheppard ask.
"Nearly there," came the reply
"Get a med team out here. McKay's having an allergic reaction and it sounds bad."
"Okay. There was a flat area on the hillside, should be able to land a jumper there."
"Good, that'll speed things up. I'm on my way to McKay now."
He laid there panting, noting that the drug was having some effect now, but not as much as he'd hoped for. This was a really bad reaction, but he couldn't use the other pen just yet, too much adrenaline was dangerous. He had to give it more time…
Sliding onto his side, he passed out.
Sheppard made good time, even though he was running uphill. It helped that the town was close to another road up the hillside, one that was a short cut to the power relay station, and he made it within twenty minutes. When he found McKay, he was collapsed on the ground, still having difficulty breathing, with two epi-pens lying close by him.
"Damn it, McKay," he knelt next to the semi-conscious man, quickly checking the epi-pens, confirming that one had been used, as McKay had said, but it didn't look like it was having much effect, or else the effect had already started to wear off. Presumably McKay had collapsed before being able to inject the second pen. He was lucky he'd been able to call for help if the reaction was that bad.
Sheppard grabbed the unused pen, injecting it into McKay's thigh and following the instructions Beckett had given him when he'd first chosen McKay for his team. He pulled Rodney up to rest against his chest as he did so, knowing that sitting up would help McKay to breathe better.
"Come on, McKay, don't you dare die on me," John muttered loudly, "In fact, you can consider that an order."
He was acutely aware of McKay's trembling as well as his struggles to breathe.
"After all the danger you've faced and survived, you're not going to let a little allergic reaction take you out, are you?"
The breathing seemed to be easing, thankfully, but McKay was still only semi-aware.
"Anyway," John said, a slight tease entering his voice in relief that the epi-pen seemed to be working, "If you die, I'll make sure everyone at your funeral refers to you by your first name. You'd like that, wouldn't you, Meredith?"
There was a grunt, probably all that McKay could manage right now, but at least Sheppard knew he was listening.
"And I'll tell Colonel Carter that you admitted on your deathbed that she's smarter than you."
Another grunt, and McKay tried to move his hand.
"Yeah, and I'll tell Zelenka you said he was smarter than you as well while I'm at it."
This time McKay managed to move his hand, making an obscene gesture.
"That's it, McKay," John said, smiling. "You had me worried there for a moment, buddy. Thought I was going to have to break in a new science guy, and really, I wasn't looking forward to that. Breaking you in was hard enough."
"Nnggh."
"Yeah, I know, this sucks. But you're going to be okay, Rodney," John said, going for reassuring now he was sure McKay wasn't about to pass out on him, or worse.
"Shepp…"
"That's me," John said. "Who else would bother to save your sorry butt?"
"Ha, funny," McKay managed to huff out, though the sarcasm was muted.
"I thought so," John smiled. "Think you can sit up by yourself now?"
"Maybe," Rodney wheezed.
Sheppard carefully moved from behind McKay, only for Rodney to start sliding back to the ground. "Okay, that's not working," he said, slipping back behind McKay to hold him up again. "Let's give it a bit longer before we try that again."
"Sorry…"
"Well, unless you purposely touched or ate something you're allergic too, which I highly doubt, then you're hardly to blame, are you?" Sheppard sighed. "A medical team will be here soon, probably headed by Beckett. Then we'll soon have you back home. Lots of nice meds, probably an overnight stay in the infirmary…"
"Lovely…" McKay's sarcasm was stronger now.
"Yeah. Any idea what caused this?" John asked, watching as McKay's brow creased in thought.
"I… I took a bite… PowerBar… It tasted sour…" McKay's voice suddenly rose slightly. "Like citrus. But there shouldn't… be any… in it."
Sheppard looked around the room, a bad feeling settling in his stomach as Rodney's words and spotted the open PowerBar in the corner. It looked from a distance like one of the toffee flavoured ones, but he needed to see it up close to be certain.
"You think you might be able to sit up if I lean you against the wall? Or will you be able to breathe better if I lie you down?"
"Lie… down…" McKay said.
Sheppard carefully laid McKay down on his side in the recovery position, checking that his breathing didn't get worse, before taking a closer look at the PowerBar. Definitely toffee and he knew for a fact that there shouldn't be any citrus in one of those. He took a careful sniff. There was a strong smell of lemons. Shit.
"Someone… did this… to me… The bomb… failed… so tried this… Want me dead…"
Sheppard returned to Rodney, pulling him back up, and letting him lean against his chest. Not that McKay couldn't breathe lying down, but it would still be easier for him sitting up and the discovery that someone had apparently laced one of McKay's PowerBars with lemon juice so soon after the bomb attempt was making him uneasy, and maybe just a tad bit overprotective.
"Yeah, looks like that," John said, knowing there was little point in trying to keep it from McKay.
"Oh crap…" There was a hitch in Rodney's voice, a hint of panic.
"Easy, McKay. We'll figure this out. We'll just have to be even more careful until we do. Okay?"
"O… okay…"
They fell silent, McKay struggling for breath, though John was pleased to see his team-mate's breathing continued to improve. All he could do was keep an eye on Rodney, and try to keep him calm.
"Hey, did you ever watch the Raiders play against the Redskins last year?" he asked, and ignoring the groan his question elicited from McKay, he proceeded to give a play by play account of the game. He could tell that Rodney was less than impressed with his distraction technique, as well as being frustrated by his inability to do more than huff out a few insults. Luckily for McKay's sanity, Ronon entered the room with Beckett and a medical team before he could get beyond the first quarter.
Within a few minutes, the PowerBar had been placed into a Ziploc bag and McKay had been placed onto a stretcher, despite his complaints and assertions that he could walk just fine, and they were on their way back to Atlantis.
Once they reached Atlantis, Carson started to direct the stretcher to the infirmary, but Sheppard's hand on his arm stopped him.
"If someone is trying to kill him, I don't think the infirmary is a good idea. Too open, with too many people wandering through it. Is he well enough for us to take to the guest quarters?"
"Well, he is starting to recover, but I want someone to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't have a relapse."
"Ronon will make sure he behaves himself."
"I'm here, you know, and not deaf," came a voice from the stretcher. "And I could walk to my quarters if this tyrant here would let me get up!"
"You are going where we send you and you are going there in a horizontal position, or do I need to strap you down?" Carson threatened.
"But all the adrenaline..." Rodney started to protest, only to be whisked away by the med team before he could continue further.
Carson and Sheppard exchanged a knowing look, before Ronon, Teyla and themselves followed in the wake of their bitterly complaining friend.
As soon as McKay was settled into the guest quarters, John organised a rota to guard him. He would only be happy with Rodney's safety if one of the team or someone he trusted, such as Ellison or Lorne, was with McKay at all times, but he did place two guards on the door as an added precaution as well. Once everything had been arranged, he went to advise Ellison on what had happened off world.
Ronon had volunteered for first watch, and Carson ensured that he was knew what to look out for in case of a secondary reaction setting in, before leaving his patient in capable hands.
"NO! NO! NO!" screamed the woman, pacing up and down the room. "What have I got to do to kill this MAN? The lemon should have worked. All the trouble I took getting the lemon out of the mess hall and spiking all those PowerBars in the hope one of them would be yours, and it was, and yet you survived; AGAIN! You live a lucky life, Doctor McKay, but your luck is going to run out, and when it does, I am going to be there. I'm going to watch you burn and die. Watch you suffer, like my beloved suffered in that fireball prison you left him in. My plans for you aren't over. I am going to keep trying and not you nor anybody else is going to stop me."
She forced herself to calm down; she had to get ready to start her patrol shift and needed to keep her head. No one must suspect that tomorrow she would get her revenge.
It was late evening and Teyla was on Rodney 'care duty' when Blair entered the room like a mini-whirlwind.
"Rodney, are you okay? Carson wouldn't let me come before," Blair asked, relieved to see his friend was seated and reading a book, one he didn't even try to understand the title of.
Teyla moved over to stand by the balcony to give them some privacy, though she remained alert to any dangers and was still able to hear their conversation.
"I'm fine. Being poisoned is an everyday occurrence for me. That, and being blown up!"
"You weren't actually blown up, you know?" Blair pointed out.
"That's not the point; I could have been! And I was poisoned, and I'm not allowed go to my own quarters... Not to mention that Carson still won't let me work, says I need to take it easy, as if working isn't taking it easy..."
"He's just concerned about you."
"I'm fine enough to work," Rodney protested. "You could at least have smuggled in a laptop for me!"
"Right, and get Carson all riled up at me? No chance. He's downright scary when he wants to be."
"Wimp."
"Where he's concerned? Too right."
As Teyla listened to their banter, she was pleased to hear the tension start to fade from Rodney's voice. By the time Blair left, Rodney was more relaxed, and soon turned in for the night; though his sleep was still fitful and disturbed.
She'd finished her patrol shift in the early hours of the morning, and now, after catching a couple of hours of sleep, she was up and dressed again. She pulled out the picture of her beloved and herself, one that a friend had secretly taken for her in Antarctica, and held it close for a second, her hand drifting lovingly over his face.
If only she'd found the courage to tell him how she felt. If only she'd been chosen from the marines that had volunteered, so that she'd been with him from the start. She would have made sure that he still lived. She would have protected him from the likes of the accursed McKay. Life was cruel, and she had been unable to do any of these things, but she would, at least, get her revenge.
"Today is the day you die, Doctor McKay. And I am going to watch your demise, in a ball of flame. Today you pay for my beloved's death. Your time is ticking away, enjoy your last seconds because I'm going to enjoy your death," she said, as she returned the picture to her pocket. Smiling, she left her quarters. She could hardly wait, the anticipation thrummed through her veins, excitement making her heart race.
Today was going to be a good day.